Welcome to the September Council Connect |
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Together, Sharing Our Faith as
Catholic Women, so that the
Power of the Gospel Shines
Forth in Our Families
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Trudy Burenheide
President - ldccwpresident@gmail.com
402-801-1837
Greetings to all of you wonderful ladies of our Lincoln Diocese!
On August 19 over 30 attendees were at our Fall Meeting in Sutton, NE. The ladies at St. Mary’s in Sutton were wonderful hostesses! (As all hosting council ladies have been throughout the diocese!) Getting to know the ladies is among my very favorite parts of being your President. On our way to Sutton, we enjoyed learning about the history of St. Joseph at Friend, St. Stephen at Exeter, and St. Helena at Grafton. At each church we also prayed a Litany and a Memorare to each church’s namesake. Friday evening after our Executive Board meeting we enjoyed visiting and dining at Flat River Bar and Grill. Along with the Exec board were our hostesses from St. Mary’s, Fr. Zimmer, and other ladies who lived nearby.
Saturday morning, we were treated with muffins made by one of our hostesses and kuchen, a real treat! After Mass, celebrated by Fr. Zimmer we enjoyed a delicious lunch. Fr. Sullivan, from York, spoke to us about his ministry at the Correctional Center for Women in York. He highlighted that when scripture speaks of setting prisoners free, it is our responsibility to help them to set their hearts free so that they can know forgiveness and Christ’s love. He told us the best way we can assist the women at the center is to pray for them. Before adjourning we set aside time to discuss an excerpt or two from Bishop Conley’s Pastoral Letter on Adoration of the Most Holy Eucharist, “Love Made Visible”. Ladies in attendance expressed the sentiment it they were renewed as if they had been on a retreat.
NCCW Convention Report
Then on the following Monday nine of us set out in two rental vans for the NCCW National Convention in Salt Lake City. We arrived on Tuesday and enjoyed taking in a few of the local highlights before the meeting began. For me, the highlight of our stops was “The Cathedral of the Madeline”. The Cathedral was completed and dedicated in 1909.
I especially appreciated our Thursday speaker, Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, Executive Director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, a national Catholic organization working to end the death penalty and to promote restorative justice. Her talk was titled, “From Woundedness to Healing: Restorative Approaches to Harm”. She explained Restorative Justice. I found the following explanation of Restorative Justice on their website which is included below. “Every person deserves to be treated with dignity and given the model to transform hurt and suffering into healing, redemption, and wholeness. In restorative justice, crime and harm are understood in terms of the people and relationships impacted, rather than solely the law or rule that was broken.
Restorative practices bring together people and communities affected by harm to understand what happened and mutually determine how to make things as right as possible.
As Catholics, restorative processes invite us to live out the principles of Catholic social teaching and to model Jesus' reconciling way."
We all learned and grew from the speakers we heard and from taking in the process of the business meeting. The following are three takeaways from our time at the Convention.
The Convention afforded Judy Weston the opportunity to witness the Holy Spirit in action. Judy also said. “It has really boosted my spirituality and increased my awareness of restorative justice.”
Terri Sullivan shares: “The Friday morning breakfast speakers reminded us that the Eucharist is the reincarnation that continues on earth until the end of time. We are given the gift of memory which gives us moments of grace to remember the history of Jesus and our faith. We need to identify the barriers that keep us from the Eucharist and seek out people who revive us. Like a toddler, we drag our feet to change and newness but once we experience it we love it. We need to continue to create micro miracles.”
Teresa Koch wanted to attend the Convention because she believes that "As a Catholic, we need to continue growing, learning and praying together using the resources we are given. God gave each of us a gift and we need to use it and share it within our family, parish and community."
Shirley Huss had something wonderful totally unexpected happen. Shirley met a wonderful lady who lives in the same state and town as her single daughter lives in. On my next visit there, we will all get together and my daughter will have a Catholic Mother there with her!! I have been praying and praying and praying for her and our Wonderful GOD dropped this lady in my lap.
Trudy Burenheide 2022 - 2024
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Important information about the upcoming
LDCCW 64th Biennial Convention
April 26 and; 27, 2024, John XXIII Center, Lincoln, NE
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Donna Cori Gibson will be performing live in Lincoln on April 26 & 27, 2024 at the Lincoln Diocesan Council of Catholic Women’s Convention. This is an amazing opportunity that you won’t want to miss!
Donna has been sharing her songs, sung prayers, and meditations for 24 years, via Golden Arrow Music in Catholic churches and prayer groups and on TV. She is a repeat guest at many conferences and events from coast to coast.
If you have not experienced her dynamic voice on the radio, I encourage you to take time to listen to her on YouTube. Donna is dedicated to setting prayers to music with the idea that “when we sing, we pray twice.” (St. Augustine)
She will be helping us celebrate with gratitude the source and summit of our Catholic faith during Eucharistic Adoration on Friday evening. Then, on Saturday morning she will be our keynote speaker and will help us discover how we can be a “Mary in a Martha World.” Both sessions will take place at the John XXIII Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Reservations are required and will open in January.
All women are invited to come and share in our celebration! So, pass the word on to every one of your friends. We welcome everyone!
Convention Details
As in the past, we would like the help of each deanery (via each parish) in making preparations for the LDCCW Banquet and Convention in Lincoln, NE on April 26 & 27, 2024. The items listed below requires the attention of deanery presidents, with the support of all parishes. EACH
DEANERY (not each parish) is asked to please:
• Pay $25.00 toward the cost of centerpieces that will be displayed on the tables during the Convention. Please send the check to Diane Synek, LDCCW Treasurer, 2887 Road Z DeWeese, NE 68934 The check should be made payable to LDCCW.
• Supply a basket with a theme (such as coffee or the Blessed Virgin Mary) for the Basket Silent Auction. The theme can be religious but does not have to be. You start with a basket of any size and add items to represent the theme. Usually, the basket will be wrapped in clear cellophane and a list of the items inside is attached to the basket. A minimum of $50 worth of items is suggested but not required. These can be brought to the John XXIII Center in Lincoln on Friday after 3 PM or Saturday morning by 9 AM. Proceeds from the basket silent auction will go to help fund the I’ve Got A Name. The auction will take place on Saturday, April 27th only.
• Sell raffle tickets among your deanery (and promote within your parishes) beginning in August. Please post the flier, which will be included in the deanery packet, for your parish and begin selling raffle tickets as soon as
possible. You need not be present to win. Raffle tickets will also be sold at the Convention. Proceeds from the raffle will go to I’ve Got A Name. Send raffle tickets and; money to Diane Synek, LDCCW Treasurer, 2887 Road Z, DeWeese, NE 68934 or bring them to the Winter Symposium or convention.
• Collect money from parishes for the President’s Project Continue to donate to the Bishop’s Project which is to create a St. John Paul II
Prayer Garden in front of the Chancery. Money collected will be presented to Bishop Conely at the convention.
I’ve Got A Name is a non-profit group formed to raise community awareness to amplify the
voices of survivors and prevent women and children from being exploited in Nebraska.
Their website is, https://ivegotaname.org/. The donations from both the raffle tickets and the basket auction will be donated to this group.
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Second Sunday Faith Sharing
Please join us every second Sunday of the month from 7:30 to 8 p.m. for Faith Sharing. Below is the Zoom link for the call on September 11th. We hope many of you can join us!
One of our convention speakers shared her memories of grace, emphasizing how important for our faith growth it was to recall those memories of grace, to share them over and over again with family and others that we encounter, then to give thanks to Our Father for those moments of Grace.
This September 10 at 7:30 p.m. will be our next zoom Faith Sharing. Our special guest will be Sandy Danek, sharing her moments of grace, and Barb Kadlec will offer the closing prayer. Please let me know if you could join us to offer our opening prayer.
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 837 6530 6424
Passcode: 777254
One tap mobile
+16694449171,,88937375714#,,,,*565412# US
+17207072699,,88937375714#,,,,*565412# US (Denver)
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Spirituality Commission - Teresa Koch
402-239-9095 gtkoch@diodecom.net
Prayer Auxiliary of St Monica for the month of September – Grant Deanery
Divine Mercy Reflection
On the evening of Sep 13, 1935, an angel called “the executor of divine wrath” appeared to St Faustina, dressed in a dazzling robe and striking the earth with lightning bolts. She pleaded with the angel, asking him not to unleash a certain “sign of divine wrath.” “But my plea was a mere nothing in the face of the divine anger,” she said.(474)
Then after having an intense vision of the Most Holy Trinity, St Faustina found herself interiorly pleading with God in the following words, “Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ for our sins and those of the whole world, for the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us.”(474)
As St. Faustina prayed these words, the angel became helpless, unable to carry out the
punishment he intended. The next morning, Jesus first gave St. Faustina specific instructions on how to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet, which should be said on Rosary beads. “This prayer will serve to appease My wrath.” He said. (476)
At that time, abortion was becoming a widespread practice in St. Faustina’s country of Poland. The godless ideologies of Communism and Socialism were on the rise. Abortion has only become more widespread and our culture has only become more secularized. But thankfully, the Divine Mercy Chaplet has spread to all corners of the globe. Likely hundreds of thousands of
Catholics around the world pray it every day. In addition to appeasing God’s wrath, reciting the Chaplet comes with many promises. Jesus told St. Faustina, “Oh, what great graces I will grant to souls who say this chaplet; the very depths of My tender mercy are stirred for the sake of those who say the chaplet.” (848)
In St. Faustina’s diary, Jesus often talked about the special effectiveness of praying the Chaplet at 3 o’clock. He said, “At three o’clock, implore My mercy, especially for sinners; and if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself in My Passion, particularly in My abandonment at the moment of agony. This is the hour of great mercy. In this hour, I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion.” (1320)
The Lord talked especially about the Chaplet’s effectiveness for the dying. He said, “Write that when they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person, not as the just Judge but as the merciful Savior…When hardened sinners say it, I will fill their souls with peace, and the hour of their death will be a happy one.” (1541)
Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet daily, especially on September 13, the anniversary of
Christ revealing the Divine Mercy Chaplet to St. Faustina.
Bonnie Damrow
Vice Chair Spirituality Commission
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Service Commission - Kathy Rentschler
Krentschler21@gmail.com 402-423-8210
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Watch for the Diaper Drive beginning in October! |
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Leadership Commission - Judy Weston
ldccwleadership@gmail.com
402-984-5856
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Recently, we attended the National Council of Catholic Women Convention. We traveled 13 hours on our return trip to Nebraska. I thought about the Transfiguration during the drive and what Peter had said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” Peter wanted to stay at the Transfiguration and build tents, but building tents isn’t a feasible option for the women of the LDCCW. We have our life, our families, and friends to return home to. It gave me pause to think about our membership. Jesus knew it would take three people to begin talking about their experience. It takes just one to be excited about your experience with Christ. The message we heard at the convention was, start by inviting just one. It is time to invite a sister in Christ to your Parish Council meeting, your Deanery or the Lincoln Diocesan meeting. When you invite and spend time with your sisters in Christ, you too will say, “Lord, it is good we are here!”
Judy Weston
President Elect
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Last year we were given a high goal to achieve for Spirit Catholic Radio. This year will be even higher! Remind your friends and councils to call in from September 26! Your gift will help the mission of Spirit Catholic Radio to reach out to the world!
Tune in on September 26 from 12 - 1 pm.
The phone number is Care-a-thon: 1-855-571-1027
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UPCOMING EVENTS
September Prayer Auxiliary of St Monica - Grant Deanery
September 8 - Blessed Mother's Birthday
September 10 - Faith sharing -Zoom- 7:30-8 pm.
September 10 - Grandparents Day
September 15 - Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows
September 26 - Spirit Catholic Radio Fall Care a Thon
September 27 - 40 Days for Life begins
October 1 - Roses for Sisters on the Feast of St Theresa: On October 1, remember the Sisters and CCD teachers in appreciation of the service they give in the education of our Catholic youth. Please present a rose thanking them for their service.
October 6 & 7 - Pro-Life Banquet and Conference
Pope's Intentions for September
For people living on the margins
We pray for those persons living on the margins of society, in inhumane life conditions; may they not be overlooked by institutions and never considered of lesser importance.
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Lincoln Diocesan Council of Catholic Women| 402-801-1837
ldcccwpresident@gmail.com
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